Gifted #Wattys2015

Chapter 15

Teenage Tula

Tula managed to get through the story, keeping to the truth as much as she could. When she was done, her mom said, "You've had a tiring day. Go to sleep, and I'll be back tomorrow."

You have absolutely no idea Tula thought as she agreed with her mom. Her parents then left, and she turned to Jay. "What plans do you have?"

"The doctor said I could leave, so I was going to go home. My parents should be home by now, so I should get back before they get worried."

"You should," Tula agreed. She lay back down her bed and Jay left her alone with her thoughts. Unfortunately for her, sleep didn't come easily that night. She kept thinking about the things she had seen, and, more importantly, Belle.

Who was this lady who claimed she knew Tula, and also that Tula knew her? Tula didn't know whether she wanted to find out who this lady was or what she knew, but she just couldn't stop thinking about her either way.

Tula tried to think of other things to distract herself. She tried to think about what her friends were doing, whether or not they knew what had happened. But in the end, she wound up thinking about Belle again. Finally, she accepted that sleep was never going to come, and decided to do some research about the history of Gifts. Pulling out her phone, she typed in telepathy, and opened the Wikipedia article. She scanned through the article, but didn't come across anything she didn't know already... until she saw the name May Wentzell appear for the second time. Clicking on her name, she began to read the article about her. And she found some pretty cool things. 

Suddenly, she heard footsteps. Quickly, Tula lay down and covered herself, automatically slipping her phone into her pocket. The door to her room opened and a nurse walked in. She took Tula's temperature and straightened up the room. Tula watched with her eyes half closed as she waited for the nurse to leave. Instead, she sat on the bench and began scribbling furiously on a little note pad.

Luckily for Tula, sleep claimed her just then, and she drifted off to an imaginary world.

***

Friday morning passed by without hasstle, and she was soon sitting at home with her parents. 

"Do you want to go to school?" her mom asked.

"Yup. I'm completely fine, and I don't want to miss any work."

"Okay then. You've already missed you first three periods though."

"That's okay. I can manage."

"Okay. Get ready and I'll drop you off."

Tula took the quickest shower of her life, and threw on a pair of jeans and the first T-shirt she found and was ready to leave in ten minutes flat. She didn't know herself why she really wanted to go to school, but she knew she wanted to. 

Ten minutes later, she was walking into Mrs. J's class, a late pass in her hand. As she slid into her desk behind Jay, Mrs. J said, "We're taking notes on the War of 1812. Here's your sheet, copy the first bit from Stephanie."

"Okay," Tula said, taking the paper from Mrs. J and taking out her pencil. She lasted exactly five minutes before she got bored. Seeing that Jay looked bored too, she decided to give up learning about the the war and talk to him instead.

How are you doing?

Good, you?

Good. This is so boring!

It really is. Did you get any sleep yesterday?

Yeah I did. By the way, you remember the first day your Gift flashed out right?

Yeah, what about it?

Mrs. J said I'd have to explain what happened to her by Friday. That's today, and I don't know what to do.

Hmm. That's a problem. Do you think you should tell her the truth?

I don't know. I'm not sure I'd be able to come up with an acceptable explanation.

I'm coming with you.

Okay. Do you think I should tell her?

I think...

They were interrupted by the sharp sound of the bell. Tula sighed and slowly began packing up. Jay, too, hung back till everyone was gone. Mrs. J looked up and said, "I know I told you that I needed an explanation by today, but you guys seem hella stressed, and I really don't mind if you don't explain it to me. I trust that you guys had a good reason, and let's leave it at that. Now get going, you don't want to be late for your next class."

Is she serious? Tula asked as she said out loud, "Thank you so much!!"

Mrs. J just smiled at them as Tula waved at Jay and left. She ran all the way to art, reaching just in time for the second bell. The rest of the passed by quickly, and Tula had collected all the work that she had missed. The only thing she still had to do is explain why she hadn't been at school for the past few days. She'd used her work as an excuse to avoid them for today, but she knew that if she pulled out her phone, she would be bombarded with texts. She did anyway and realized with a shock that this wasn't her phone! It was Jay's! She opened it and called her own phone, hoping that if she had his phone, he had hers. Unfortunately for her, her phone went to voicemail. she tried texting, but no one replied. Tula didn't know what to do, so she decided to call her mom. 

Her mom picked up on the fourth ring, "Hello?"

"Ma it's me. I accidentely took Jay's phone and I don't know where mine is."

"When did you last use it?"

"We were playing a game...thing in lunch today. Everyone pulled out their phones and lay them side so we could see just how many people had iPhones. I was pretty sure I picked up my phone after that. Maybe one of my friends has it."

"First you should go give Jay's phone back. He'll probably help you ask everyone else."

"Good idea, Ma. I'm heading over there first then."

"Okay. Don't be late, and keep me posted."

"Kay bye!"

"Bye!"

 Tula went over to Jay's and knocked on the door. He opened it immediately and invited her in. "I was really hoping you would come," he said, "I can't find my phone."

"That's the reason I came. I found your phone, but I can't find mine."

"Thank god you found my phone, and no one else. My brother was using it yesterday and he disabled the passcode, so anyone could have gotten in. That sucks about your phone though. I'll help you look for it."

"Lucky you. Can you like text everyone who was playing that game with us in lunch today?"

"Yup I'll do that." Jay started texting people, asking if they'd seen Tula's phone. Tula, on the other hand, was having a very vivid dream. 

As Tula walked through the maze, she remembered someone telling her that keeping to the right would eventually lead her to the exit. She kept her right hand to the wall and kept walking. After a really long, dull walk, Tula reached what appeared to be the centre of the maze. The only thing she could see was a very familiar looking lady in front of her. 

Tula screamed and came back to reality, the lady's face still looming up in front of her.